STRANGER THINGS HAVE HAPPENED_JIM HOPPER

012

Everyone's thoughts were elsewhere these days, and most were just going through the motions to make it to the next.

Ana had, however, received a message from the front office towards the end of the school day, indicating that there had been a call for her. The slip of paper passed to her from one of the student aids read simply: 'meet at the library.'

And that's precisely where she'd headed once her work day concluded, parking alongside the chief's patrol car just as he and Powell exited the vehicle.

Vacating her own automobile swiftly, she questioned, "what's up?" And fell into step astride the officers as they climbed the steps to the entry.

"Hawkins Lab is hiding something," came the terse reply from Hopper. Well, that much was obvious. "Need you here for research." She'd nodded her head and questioned it no further as they entered the building. All her studying and research while an undergrad had to prove useful at some point, she reckoned.

"Hey, Marissa. How you doin'?" Hopper offered warmly to the librarian as the crew approached the reception desk. The response he received in kind was not equally as warm.

"You have a lot of nerve showing up here," Marissa quipped in annoyance. Oh, shit. Ana saw exactly where this was going and hung back at the doors as to not intrude on the tongue lashing the chief was certainly about to receive.

Hopper wasn't quite as quick to the draw, however, and asked in a stupefied manner, "what?"

The hand cocked back, the head tilt. All the signs were there, Hopper was about to be read the riot act and he was none the wiser.

"You could have at least called, said, 'Marissa! Hey, it's not gonna work out. Sorry I wasted your time. I'm a dick.'" The inflection Marissa placed on the word 'dick' nearly broke Ana, and she had to turn her head into her shoulder in an effort to try and contain the laughter that was rapidly rising from her throat.

"Yep," muttered with an astute nod, was the response Hopper gave in return. Not bad, Ana thought, at least he wasn't trying to make excuses for his poor behavior. Ownership is always the best bet in these types of predicaments.

The librarian and the police chief seemed to share a nod of understanding before Hopper let out an embarrassed sigh. "I'm sorry."

Okay, maybe there was some hope of smoothing the whole situation over without any lingering bitterness.

"Uh, maybe we could go out again next week?" Never mind, this man was moronic. Ana wanted to face palm herself from the secondhand embarrassment, or maybe smack Hopper one for making her live it vicariously through him, but she denied herself of both impulses.

Marissa looked to Powell as if to say, 'is he serious?' Powell looked to Hopper as if to say, 'are you this dumb?' And Ana, she looked to the ceiling, willing herself not to tear up from the physical effort it was taking to contain a snort from leaving her body.

In the ensuing silence, Hopper suddenly remembered how non-verbal cues worked and changed the subject. "Newspapers? You got newspapers around here?"

Marissa had begrudgingly left her desk and led the threesome to a rack of shelves that contained all the information they were seeking. "We have the New York Times, the Post, all the big ones. Organized by year and topic. You can find the corresponding microfiche in the reading room," she'd indicated with a finger over her shoulder.

"Okay, we're looking for anything on the Hawkins National Laboratory," Hopper informed her.

"Well, shouldn't you be looking for that missing kid?" Marissa questioned, not making the connection.